1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hand tools, and more particularly, to ratchet wrenches.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior reversible ratchet wrenches typically include a pawl resiliently engaged with a gear coupled to a square drive member. When the pawl is engaged with the tooth gear, a user can only rotate the handle relative to the gear or square drive in one direction. The pawl is engaged by a spring disposed in a bore of the body of the wrench and an unconnected ball at an end of the spring. Often, when the wrench is being assembled or disassembled, the unconnected ball biased by the spring will pop free from the tool. This causes lost time in assembly and, often, the loss of the ball.
In other applications, springs have been coupled to locking structure. For example, a spring coil has been connected to a narrow, circumferential groove in the cylindrical body portion of a lock pin for forming a releasable lock to maintain a detachable wrench head coupled to my associated handle. Since the body portion of the lock pin is cylindrical, it is difficult to insert the coil of the spring into the groove and, since the groove is narrow, only one coil can be accommodated in the groove, possibly making the connection between the spring and lock pin weak.